Howdy all! I have a 350 olds block, and I've already installed an Edelbrock 1406 600cfm w/ electric choke. My bro-in-law said not to worry about the choke since TX is so hot... any truth to that? Anyway, after doing a recent roller rocker conversion from stock, I noticed that the plugs and piston heads looked black and dry from carbon. I've heard that this is from having my carb too rich. The edelbrock manual isn't much for layman's terms on tuning the carb and seeking a good A/F ratio. Does anyone know of a good technique I can follow that will help me (in layman's terms)?

I have the same carb that you are using and here's the trick. Edelbrock states that you MUST have no more than 6 PSI of fuel pressure!!! If you have more, fuel will sneak past the needle and seat. In other words, only use the Performer fuel pump with the Performer carb or add a regulator. I have been told that 5 PSI is more like the right settiing. I have a Holley pump that makes 8-9 PSI and it runs so rich on idle that you can't run it in the garage without gagging. The other thing is to make sure that your float level is correct. It's a breeze to adjust, just pull off the top of the carb and flip it over, the Edelbrock website gives you the height spec. When I checked mine, one was right on and one was way off. The adjustment made a real difference in mixture, I'm going to pick up a pump hopefully this weekend for step 2.

As far as the choke, I would suggest hooking it up. Here in PA it was 90 and I still used the choke to start it.

<a href="http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/index.html</a>

[ June 10, 2002: Message edited by: HotRodF100 ]</p>

Thanks for the good word HotRodF100! I just ordered a fuel pressure regulator from Jegs for $40, so hopefully this will assist. I'm going to do some homework on edelbrocks site to see more about taking off the top of the carb. At least make sure I'm unscrewing the right screws. I believe that the star screws on the top near the throats are the secondary adjustment screws... so if you have any info about exactly what to tweak there, and when removing the top, that'd be greatly appreciated also!

the star screws are to gain acsess to the rods, springs, and jets that controll mixture at part and full throtle on the primary side. Running on two not four barrols of the carb. They must be removed and the rods and pistons removed befor you remove all the top screws to take off the top. I wonder if lower vacume is the cause of your troubles. If so you can change the springs. It may be running in the power mode at low speed and or idle.

I forgot to ask if the elect choke is hocked up or if you adjusted the choke to stay open all the time. Allso be sure you have 12 volts to the wire that goes to the choke heater